Purine & Uric Acid

Apparently, I have to watch my intake of foods which are high in uric acid / purine. So what are these foods? 

This is a bit of an odd subject as 20 different people have 20 different opinions (including Doctors). 

So I did my own checking a came across a good website called Purine Direkt from Germany. So the focus of foods covered is mainly what is commonplace in Germany... but it does give a really good idea as to what the purine content is.

Go to their website! It's really good!

Instead of re-printing everything from Purine Direkt, I have 2 tables and both will contain the Top-30 food items.

Table A is the ranking of Purine by Weight (milligrams per 100g of Food).

Table B is the ranking by Purine by typical Portion (milligrams per Portion in grams)

Normally, a Top-10 list would suffice but more than half of the foods on the list are not commonplace in most countries.

Table B: High Purine foods by Portion

Food Name Purine Portion

  (mg/portion) (g)

Veal sweetbread 471 125

Pig milk 313 125

Trout 213 150

scallops, clams 207 150

Spleen from calf 206 125

Cattle lung 206 125

Pork kidney 203 125

Duck Liver 189 125

Goose liver 189 125

Horse meat 171 150

Sprats 158 75

Cow liver & heart 153 125

Calf liver 150 125

Pig liver 150 125

Herring 148 150

Calf lung 146 125

Calf kidney 146 125

Wild boar 140 200

Turkey, skin on 137 150

Minute steak 134 150

Calf Leg 132 150

Pheasant 132 150

Pig Shoulder 128 150

Lamb Leg 128 250

Halibut 126 150

Lentils 126 150

Pork cutlet 123 150

Goose meat, skin on 120 150

Pollock / Saithe 119 150

Lamb 113 150

I though it would be interesting to look a the lowest Purine content as well. 

Table C is the lowest ranking of Purine by Weight.

Table D is the lowest ranking by Purine by typical Portion.

Table D: Low Purine foods by Portion

Food Name Purine Portion

  (mg/portion) (g)

Kaviar, german 3 5

Soy sauce 3 20

Fish stock 5 150

Scampi 15 50

Soybeans, cooked 20 60

Snails, cooked 24 50

Beans, red/kidney 24 150

Mushrooms, cooked 25 100

Eel 26 75

Red cabbage, cooked 26 150

Savoy cabbage, cooked 26 150

Red Cabbage 26 150

Parsnip 26 200

Beans, green 27 150

Cauliflower, cooked 28 150

Tofu 29 100

Beans, green, cooked 29 150

Artichoke Hearts 32 150

Artichokes, cooked 32 150

Maize, cooked 32 150

Broccoli, cooked 33 150

Beans, thick, cooked 35 150

Chard Beet 36 150

Tuna, natural 37 75

Oysters 38 100

Brussels sprouts 38 150

Birch mushrooms 42 200

Morels 42 200

Shiitake Mushrooms 42 200

Tuna in oil 45 60

I think it's pretty safe to say that the high purine offenders are offal and innards. It's similar to the list of high cholesterol offenders; with the exception of bony fish.

On the low purine foods, it's nearly all vegetables and mushrooms. These are all good for you.

So what's with the fish?

And so I have to add another pair of tables just for fish.

Table E is the Fish Purine ranking by weight.

Table F is the Fish Purine by Portion.

Table B: High purine Fish by Portion

Food Name Purine Portion

  (mg/portion) (g)

Trout 213 150

scallops, clams 207 150

Sprats (Sprotters) 158 75

Herring 148 150

Halibut 126 150

Pollock / Saithe 119 150

Sardine 109 75

Herring (drip) 108 150

Cod 107 150

Perch 101 150

Trout filet 98 75

Carp 95 150

Prawns, shrimp 93 150

Haddock 89 150

Bream 89 150

Pike 89 150

Hake 88 150

Plaice 86 150

Redfish 81 150

Oil sardines, drip 80 60

Cod 80 150

Anchovies (Filet) 76 60

Lobster 74 150

Fish fillet 71 150

Blue Mussel 71 150

Fish sticks 69 150

Pike perch 69 150

Soused Herring 58 65

Salmon 56 75

Anchovies, Sardellen 55 50

Overall, looking at the purine by weight, I will say that everything from Halibut and below is low in purine. Also notice the scale of differences, for example, salmon is half that of sardines.

I am noticing some "cultural differences" in the fish Portion data. For the big fish portions like cod, yes 150g seems correct. But then salmon should be portioned at 150g as well (not 75g). In contrast, I think prawns and scallops should be portioned at perhaps 75g only (not 150g). It's hard to say what is correct here.